1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to signs, signboards, placards, displays or posters that are used to convey informational or advertising messages and are used to display visual indicia of a promotional or informational nature. More particularly this invention is related to an exterior sign or placard that includes a movable component for attracting attention to the visual message located on the movable component as it is driven by exterior wind currents. This invention is also related to signs that are lightweight and portable and can be easily assembled on site an mounted at elevated locations on posts, poles or other surfaces.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fluted or corrugated thermoplastic signs or signboards are commonly employed for advertising displays in exterior locations. These signs are typically fabricated from die cut panels that can be extruded. These panels have opposite planar exterior faces with internal transverse webs extending between the two spaced apart faces on which advertising, informational or other visual indicia can be screen printed or otherwise applied. The transverse webs provide rigidity to the panel in much the same way that corrugations impart rigidity to cardboard panels. However, the plastic material is more impervious to moisture and other environmental contaminants, and are therefore more suitable for exterior locations. Since the cross section of these fluted or corrugated plastic members does not change longitudinally, these panels can be inexpensively extruded from a thermoplastic. Examples of commercially available extruded thermoplastic fluted or corrugated panels of this type are those manufactured and sold using the trademarks COROPLAST.RTM. or POLYFLUTE.RTM. by Coroplast Inc., and those manufactured and sold using the trademark COR-X.RTM. by Primex Plastics Corp. Panels or sheets of this general type can be made of polypropylene, ABS, clear polyester, or other suitable thermoplastics.
Perhaps the most common use of fluted or corrugated panels or sheets of this type for exterior signs are the simple signs that include a single flat panel with stakes extending into the flutes or channels to support the signs in the ground. Signs of this type are commonly used for on site real estate advertisements. One example of a sign of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,527. Although inexpensive extruded corrugated or fluted plastic panels are especially useful for such applications, other similar signs can be fabricated from sheet metal as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,580. Cardboard could also be employed in similar applications, although its inferior environmental resistance would limit the useful life of cardboard or corrugated paperboard signs of this type.
Although stationary flat panel signs of this type are suitable for certain applications, they do not provide any means for attracting an observer's attention to the message displayed on the sign. One means for drawing attention to an advertising message is to impart movement to a portion of the sign. A wind-actuating rotating disk is used in U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,961 and a wind actuated rotating sign is shown in US Design Patent 373,601. Each of these devices appear to be manufactured of sheet metal or to impart sufficient rigidity. The design shown in the latter patent also appears to be mounted on brackets fabricated from tubing having a rectangular cross section which must be crimped at its bend lines.
Another approach to a wind driven rotating sign is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,179, which shows a three sided sign with vertical panels mounted on a shaft extending upwardly from a flat base. The three panels are plastic and are joined together with a suitable adhesive. Portions of each panel extend outwardly form the juncture with an adjacent panel to form a vane that will cause the structure to rotate or turn in a breeze. The three panels are also joined to a top panel that has a dome enclosure in which the top of the shaft resides to support the panel structure while permitting the panels to turn in response to wind currents striking the protruding vanes.
None of these prior art rotating or wind driven signs appear to employ corrugated or fluted panels. Thus these prior art devices do not employ the corrugated or fluted construction of the panels to both provide rigidity and to mount a rotating panel on a stationary support. These prior art wind driven signs also do not appear to take advantage of the relatively light weight of these panels to simplify on site assembly of a wind driven sign. Furthermore none of these prior art movable signs appear to provide a lightweight placard or sign that can be relatively easily mounted at an elevated location on a pole or post where it is more easily observable and more likely to catch a suitable breeze or wind current to impart movement to the sign and to draw a passerby's attention to the message displayed on the sign. The instant invention overcomes each of these shortcomings of the prior art to provide a lightweight, inexpensive wind responsive display that can be easily assembled on site from flat panels and can be mounted in elevated or hard to reach locations. Furthermore the components of the invention described herein can be economically fabricated by die cutting a single panel. The sign can also be mounted either in a vertical orientation to a pole or other surface located on the side of the sign. Alternatively the sign can be mounted on a horizontal surface with a stationary mounting portion located below a movable member attached to it.